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I just graduated this spring, over the last year and half I look back at my training/education. We had simulators (don't know what brand), but they never worked right and made little sense to me. You just can't beat working on real equipment. Lights and buzzers are no match for seeing a motor not turning or a frosted evaporator. We had new refrigerators and furnaces that we completely took apart and put back together. We had to identify parts and what they did. Nothing is better for someone who is new to electricity than to stand in front of a 90+ furnace with a hand full of wires and have to put them all back correctly. We had no shortage of equipment to work on. People would bring in their refrigerators and window ac's and we would fix them. It was a win/win for everyone. Then there were the field trips to install/fix equipment. Non-profit stuff like volountary fire depts and habitat for humanity. Just a look from the students side.

The school must be accredited for the student to get financial aid. That is done by COE around here. I think they are nation wide.
The no student left behind program has cut money vocational schools. President Bush said it does not cut funds to schools it cuts out undeserving schools. If your program is accredited, you are supposed to get a bigger cut of that smaller pie. That has not been made official yet, but I am told that it is coming.

Yes you need all that fancy training equipment when you have 30 students to every teacher. The answer here is a lower student to teacher ratio, like no more than 7 to 1. Then you can learn on used equipment that people are throwing in dumpsters everyday.

"And remember my sentimental friend......that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others" - Wizard of Oz.

Willbfit
As a former HVAC Dept Head of 14 years, I always found local distrubutors scratch and dent as a major source for new equipment. I left the teaching regiment in 98, but I firmly believe that no instruction can beat actual hands on with working units. Develope your curriculum with actual labs that will be graded. I was lucky enough to have the units set up with double parts (one bad, one good). Put the bad part in after class, write up a service call and see what the student is capable of!!
Develope labs to correspond with the daily or weekly lecture. Backing up lecture with hands on.
Along with a curriculum designed and approved by your State apprenticeship program and State Board of Education, a mix of 1/3 lecture to 2/3 hands on seems to work the best!

Real equipmet with good and bad parts is right. Start simple like line starters and move up. You can make simple trainers with sust a switch and a starter and motor. I would like to see a student install a complete residental split system in a lab for a grade. I remember my training and the biggest thing that confused me was the thermostat that was not on AHU or the condenser diagrams.

Quote
Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own." Scott Adams

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
Albert Einstein

A good source of "bad " parts is your local contractors perhaps the local contractors association might be willing to round up broken parts and equipment that you can truly teach with. The trouble with new equipment is that it still has all the info avaiable like wiring diagrams etc and its all nice and clean too! well used equipment is filthy covered in dirt and grease and the wiring diagram is missing or unreadable etc. some one has modified the thing or rewired it alll in blue wire. its rusty the bolts and nuts are rounded etc

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Arguing with some people is like wrestling a pig - eventually you realise the pig actually enjoys it

Not trying to be a smart ass, but your labs need to have a focus and the students need to be able to understand the focus. Design your lab working from a learning objective. What is the best way to teach this idea. It sounds stupid, but some places just want to show students something instead of teach them something. Your best teaching tool is the questions you ask while they are doing the lab.

I have a cool humidifier and a steam generator to create loads. Blocking off airflow can make a good lab, but only if the student understands he will not be seeing a peice of cardboard over every condenser with a high load. I used several milkweed pods for a restriction one time. Opened them up while the condenser was running. Several student finally figured out that a dirty condenser acts just like one that has cardboard over it. I have a system that dumps its supply air at the return of the next system. They can understand the idea of evap load much better now.
I had to explain to a visiting contractor why I was making the students recover in the first quarter and they did not pump down until the 3rd quarter. They have to know what recovery is for the EPA test, even if they never use a recovery machine ever again.